Diego de La Coruna

Diego de La Coruna (died 1548) was a Spanish Franciscan friar who took part in the Christianization of Mexico during the 16th century.

Biography
Diego de La Coruna was born in La Coruna, Spain, and he was sent to New Spain in 1526 to convert the Native Americans to Christianity. Hernan Cortes sent him to accompany Captain Cristobal Quijano's Spanish soldiers as they travelled across Mexico and spread the Catholic faith, and he took it upon himself to convert Moctezuma's illegitimate son Topiltzin to Christianity as a display of Christianity's victory over animism. Over the course of several years, Friar Diego was able to force Topiltzin into conversion, but only after exiling his half-sister and lover Isabel Moctezuma to a dungeon and inadvertently driving Topiltzin crazy, as Topiltzin hallucinated that the Virgin Mary and the Aztec mother goddess Tonantzin were the same; soon, Topiltzin was drawn to the Virgin Mary due to his belief that fusing with her would redeem him. Diego died back in La Coruna in 1548.